Trying to Find Balance

I just realized I’m way over due for an update on our family fishing situation.  Somehow the last month has flown by in a blur, but I suppose that’s what happens when you are frantically trying to keep your head above water!  So far we have succeeded, but I’m not going to lie to you – it’s been pretty anxious around here – barely making ends meet while Zed works his tail off running our new boat.

Zed wrapped up dungeness crabbing on the Washington coast for the time being, and moved on to tendering dungeness crab in Puget Sound.  For those readers not familiar with tendering, it means that Zed is not actually fishing for crab himself, but taking deliveries of crab from smaller fishing boats, which he then delivers to the crab buyers at the end of the day.

small fishing boat tied up to the Robin Blue, delivering crab

Zed took the photo above during an eight-day crab opener for the Tulalip Indian Tribe.

Traditional Tulalip canoe rowing past the modern fishing boats

Offloading crab from the smaller boat

sorting through the crab to weed out short or soft crab

dumping ice on the crab before delivery to pacify them and make them less aggressive.

At the end of this opener, we realized Zed had a few days before the start of the next opener.  It so rarely happens that Zed has any time off, so we decided we needed to take advantage of it and get in some quality family time.  Time to go camping!  We loaded up the car with tents and sleeping bags and left the rainy cold Northwestern part of the state, crossing over the Cascade Mountains into Eastern Washington, which has a dry and warm climate.  A three-hour drive took us from Bellingham, Washington (rainy and 54 degrees) to Winthrop, Washington (sunny and 74 degrees).  We found a quiet campground by a river, threw some rocks in the water, started a campfire, cooked some hotdogs, roasted marshmallows, and fell asleep under the stars to the sounds of crickets chirping and rushing water (and the kids giggling in their own tent).

an action shot of the rock throwing marathon

The next day we took a hike along a river through a field of wild flowers and a forest that had recently burned in a forest fire.

wild flowers along the river

Larkyn and I, stomping along

crossing a creek on a log

We had a great weekend together, and it reminded us how important it is to take time away from the boat and work and just enjoy each other.  The kids are growing up so fast and it would be a tragedy if their only memories of childhood are of their tired overworked parents.  I want their childhood memories to be of throwing rocks in the river and waking up to deer in our campsite.

As we have been warned by other boat owners, and are discovering for ourselves, work on a boat is never done.  There is always something that needs fixing, or fluids to change, or rust to grind and something to paint.  It really does take over your life, but hopefully we will be able to find that balance, where we can work hard but still make time to have adventures.